Ethnic violence in Macedonia, world calls for peace

The situation created by the wave of ethnically motivated violence, that left nearly a dozen people injured this week, has been condemned by the institutions and political parties in Macedonia, and by the international ones including the U.S., EU, OSCE. They have appealed to citizens to refrain from violence.

Skopje: After numerous tensions that have marked the last 48 hours in Macedonia, the situation in the early hours of the morning has been reported calm.

The street which was blocked late Wednesday in Trade Center ‘Caircanja’ has been unblocked and three teenagers who were involved in throwing stones at the bus number 57 have been arrested by members of the Alpha unit.

Incidents were recorded last night in many neighborhoods of Skopje, the Macedonian media reported. According to TV Aslan M, 4 stores of Albanians owners were broken in the neighborhood Gjorce Petrov 2, which is known as a neighborhood dominated by Macedonians.

Another incident occurred in Nerez, namely in the village Lloke. According to residents, their Macedonian neighbors, during the night burned the wooden bridge that connects the Albanian residents of this village with Nerez neighborhood.

After the incident of beating Albanian students, ethnic gap has grown in Macedonia, the Chairman of the Association of Veterans of the former KLA, Fazli Veliu, told the media. He has asked the international political intervention and invited the Albanian citizens, as he said “to defend themselves.”

The situation in Macedonia is tense after ethnic incident that happened on Wednesday in Kisela Voda in Skopje, when a group of hooligans stopped a bus carrying Albanian students and attacked them with rods. About 18 Albanian students suffered various bodily injuries, five of them are reportedly ill a serious health condition.

Macedonia’s Internal Affairs Minister, Gordana Jankulovska, has not ruled out possible scenarios from different regions and people wanting decay on interethnic relations.

Under the orders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the police has been present in every bus station in Skopje since yesterday morning hours.

The situation created by the wave of ethnically motivated violence, that left nearly a dozen people injured this week, has been condemned by the institutions and political parties in Macedonia, and by the international ones including the U.S., EU, OSCE. They have appealed to citizens to refrain from violence.